By: Eline te Velde
The impact of ISO standards on daily practice
ISO standards ensure consistency, quality and safety in laboratories. In addition, customers, suppliers and government agencies are increasingly requesting ISO certification. But how do you integrate this into your organization? And how do you ensure compliance in your daily processes?
Suzanne Arts-van den Hoven is a microbiology and biochemistry specialist at food, feed and dairy laboratory NutriControl. She is also an internal auditor, member of the NEN standards committee for microbiology of the food chain, chair of the NEN working group on dairy microbiology, and an expert within various ISO working groups. During the World of Industry, Technology & Science she shares her knowledge and gives a workshop on the impact of ISO standards on daily work in the laboratory.
Within the working groups, Suzanne contributes to the revisions and developments of standards. “During a periodic review there are several voting rounds. You can then comment on the standard and report changes. This will then be discussed within the relevant ISO working group and processed if approved. The development of a new standard is a long process and takes several years. You start with an idea and a draft version. You then comment on this within the committee. There are different stages and you ultimately arrive at a final version.”
Quality and reliability
As an internal auditor, Suzanne ensures that standards are adhered to within the organization. “Working according to agreed standards has value. If you all work in the same way you will get similar results and they are easier to compare. This way you ensure consistent quality and reliability.”
According to Suzanne, it all starts with a quality system. “You have to have a quality manual. In this you record how you approach certain matters. We include all general requirements for the competence of test and calibration laboratories from NEN-EN-ISO/IEC 17025.” It is then important to bring this to the attention within the organization. “New colleagues go through an induction program that focuses on quality and standards. In our department we have a stand-up meeting every morning and monthly team meetings. Quality is also discussed there as standard. When new or amended documents are published in the quality manual, we expect everyone to read them. By means of a read confirmation we are sure that everyone is informed. A new analysis method involves a training process.”
Suzanne recognizes that ISO standards are not always easy to read. “It is a profession in itself to read ISOs and convert them into daily practice. You really need time to properly assess and implement them.” It is important to convert the standard into work regulations or SOPs, so that they can be applied unambiguously in the process within your own organization.
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